Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part IV, Appendix to diplomatic correspondence of 1865; the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, late president of the United States of America, and the attempted assassination of William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and Frederick W. Seward, Assistant Secretary, on the evening of the 14th of April, 1865; expressions of condolence and sympathy inspired by these events

[From the Avenir National, April 27, 1865.]

April 27, 1865

The telegraph brings us disastrous news, and which will certainly give cause for mourning throughout the whole of Europe. President Lincoln has been assassinated. The great citizen has fallen a martyr to his cause, but to a triumphant cause. The death of a citizen, however great and illustrious he may be, can in no way compromise the destinies of a people surrounded with democratic and free institutions.

But if it can be safely said that the triumph of the people of the United States cannot possibly become a question owing to the death of Abraham Lincoln, one cannot help feeling a certain degree of apprehension from the disappearance from the arena of politics of him who, with the prestige and authority of spotless patriotism, might have served as moderator amongst his fellow-citizens, carried away by the exultation of victory.